1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zipper technology, particularly to a method and machine for automatically fabricating zippers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the conventional zipper technology, the teeth are fabricated in an injection molding method and then set on the edges of tapes to form zippers. Refer to FIG. 1 for a zipper fabricated with an injection molding method in the conventional technology. Each of two tapes 10 has a plurality of teeth 12. The teeth 12 are set on the edges of the tapes 10. The teeth 12 of two tapes 10 are arranged to interdigitate. A slider 14 is used to mesh together or separate the teeth 12 on two tapes 10. Top stops 16 and bottom stops 18 are respectively formed on two ends of a zipper. While a zipper is applied to an overcoat, the top stops 16 and the bottom stops 18 are respectively at the upper end and the lower end of the zipper, preventing the slider 14 from running out of the zipper. Generally, the bottom stops 18 are fabricated to engage with each other.
The current zipper technology uses an injection molding method to form the teeth 12, the top stops 16 and the bottom stops 18 on two long tapes, and then cut off the long tapes at the position where the top stops 16 are located and the position where the bottom stops 18 are located to obtain two toothed tapes having the desired length. Next, the toothed tapes are inserted into the slider 14 manually. As the insertion process is done by manual work, it is manpower- and time-consuming.
Accordingly, the present invention proposes a method and machine for automatically fabricating zippers to overcome the abovementioned problems.